A Proven Framework Now Ready to Improve

Oct 31, 2008

This site has run with the same configurations without an internal interruption or failure for close to two years now, faithfully serving up millions of pages. The bulk of this traffic has been many gigabytes of dynamically generated textual information, served in small parcels most often in response to focused Internet search engine results. Secure requests to manage data underlying some of these pages also flow through this site without issue. Production enterprise sites have used Mentata software over even longer spans without error to solve information needs valuable to their enterprise. It all costs them less than a man.

The software license costs for the site are zero, yet this is more than a demonstration of an entirely open source infrastructure. The central engine for this content is a custom Java framework for accessing and manipulating directory databases through web or command line clients. It is an elegant and efficient approach, aiming to isolate central logic away from the nuts and bolts of interface or delivery which are more prone to change with time. Employed in conjunction with powerful, quality backends like OpenLDAP, this infrastructure is capable of solving problems that conventionally require more significant hardware, software, and personnel resources. Designed explicitly to be extended, the possibilities for the framework have barely been tapped.

So with years of proven successful use, I am preparing now to develop a new 0.8 version. Due to the circumstances of development, in the past I have limited participation to suggestions and comments. This time I'd like to use the more common open source development model and encourage collaborative participation. More public announcements will follow when I make a preliminary version of a new codebase available. Meanwhile, if you are interested in being involved as a developer or sponsor, feel free to contact me.